Air bags are a known safety device installed in passenger vehicles today. For supplemental occupant protection during a frontal collision, frontal air bags are traditionally installed in the hub of the steering wheel for the driver and in a recess of the instrument panel for the front seat passenger. This allows the air bags to fill the space between the occupant and the front interior of the vehicle upon deployment in a frontal collision.
Frontal passenger air bag modules are relatively large and may drive larger than desired instrument panels from an interior volume stand point. Vehicle designers are exploring ways to provide more interior space for the passengers. One means is to design an “open cockpit”, which could benefit from packaging the frontal passenger air bag in a non-traditional location that is not within the instrument panel.